Messi was ruled out for seven to eight weeks after tearing the internal collateral ligament of his left knee during Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Las Palmas on Saturday.
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Leverkusen’s Mexico striker Javier Hernandez said he would never be pleased about an injury to a fellow professional and insisted his new club had a good chance of getting at least a point out of their trip to the Catalan capital. “He will be out for around six to eight weeks according to a statement from the club’s medical staff”.
He writhed on the ground in front of the Las Palmas goal before play was stopped.
Video images then emerged of Messi limping heavily as he left hospital after undergoing tests.
The Argentinian football superstar went down in their 2-1 home victory vs Las Palmas in La Liga with knee ligament damage.
“He is the best player in th world, so of course we will notice his absence”, Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets said after the match.
After that, Barcelona has a fairly easy schedule in league play, with soccer fans circling the November 22 match against Real Madrid as a possible return to the pitch for Messi. After a series of hamstring injuries hampered him in 2013, he was able to avoid the injury bug last season, with the end result being him bagging a team high 58 goals.
With Barcelona’s squad already stretched, the loss of talisman Lionel Messi is a major blow but for the Bayer Leverkusen players there will no doubt be sighs of relief ahead of their Champions League tie tomorrow. Neymar just needs to keep being Neymar; Suarez the same.
Bayern Munich Guardiola and Messi always had a special relationship following their glory days at the Camp Nou and the Spaniard was quick to wish his former player a speedy recovery.
The ESPN carried out follow up questions regarding Messi’s serious injury, Luis Suarez, team tactics and how his absence would affect Barcelona.
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“Obviously, when it is Leo Messi even more so for the weight he carries amongst our group”.
